Why I Ship Hinabuki, And An Analysis Of Hajime And Ibuki's Relationship In SDR2 And Ibuki's Island Mode

Why I ship Hinabuki, and an analysis of Hajime and Ibuki's relationship in SDR2 and Ibuki's Island Mode ending

Everything I see happening between them romantically happens post canon. While I think Hajime held no romantic feelings for her during SDR2, I think Ibuki was quite fond of him.

They still have a great dynamic in her freetime events and her Island Mode is absolutely worth checking out if you're interested in them as a ship. I like to think that all of the free time events happened more or less. So Hajime got roped into Ibuki's schemes with her band club. His first impression of her is... well he seems kind of offput. He's so confused and just can't keep up with her energy at all. This is just kind of how he is in a lot of the free time events, and I think it largely has to do with the situation they're in, which is understandable.

Though after spending some time with her and learning more about her, he starts to develop a respect for her and her passion.

There's another point where he realizes how alone she feels, and thinks that he wants to continue playing along with her if it helps her feel less alone.

At the end of her events, she gives him some powerful advice, and he says that he doesn't feel like he's being dragged around anymore. He clearly realizes that he'd underestimated her and that despite how she appears, is very wise. He's grown to greatly respect her.

Now I wanna shift to what Ibuki thought of Hajime. I do think that there's a reason that she took interest in him, and it is because his inability to remember his talent was making him feel isolated. Ibuki brought up how the separation from her band has made her feel alone ever since, so I think she relates in a way and wants to help him feel better. All the "training" she puts Hajime through is actually just attempts to jog his memory.

As she hung out with him, she started to remember the importance of expressing yourself with other people. So to her a there was a much deeper bond forming.

They might have hung out a little bit more after this, but I don't think they'd ever gotten close. Still, her death deeply affected Hajime. He was still thinking about her in chapter 6.

This next line is everything to me. He really enjoyed her company, and I don't think he realized how much he did until she was gone.

Now its time to frame all of this romantically. To do that, we need to discuss Ibukis Island Mode ending. Even though I ship them, I do not think they identify as lovers, partners, or girlfriend and boyfriend.

In her Island Mode ending, you are presented with three relationship options, friends, lovers, and band members. When you choose friends, Ibuki denies it, saying it has to be something more meaningful. When you choose lovers, she says this.

Okay, so something more meaningful? Here’s what happens if you choose lovers.

I have seen so many people interpret this as her rejecting him romantically and showing that she has no interest in romance when I don’t think this is the case at all. I think this instead means that she values intimacy over a relationship built around romance and sex. There’s something more, too. The correct option is band members.

What exactly is a band members, or bandmate, as I like to call it.

While it doesn’t have to be romantic, I think it is. Ibuki describes it as a destined one. Playing music together with people is clearly important to her. To Hinabuki, that is love. Being in a band and playing music together is love. When you think about it, Hinabuki as a ship feels kinda awkward without some sort of band. Music is the medium that their love travels through. Of course, its not like they can’t love each other outside of a band, but this is how they feel the closest.

So why do I personally ship them.

I got into the Danganronpa franchise in 2018, but I didn’t ship them for years. Shortly after playing SDR2, I considered them romantically, but arrived at the conclusion that I didn’t see it and that they’re better as friends. However, there was a significant development in my life that happened during the years following, and that was discovering my love for rock and metal. There’s no way I could describe all my feelings here, but let me just say that I think it’s a part of me. I want to be in a rock/metal band someday, because I find that making music with people is just so beautiful.

I hadn’t seen Ibuki’s freetime events or Island Mode when I began to ship them. In early 2020, I combined my interest in Danganronpa with my interest in rock/metal and created Jabberrock, a band that takes place in my own post canon. He was the singer, and she was the guitarist, and in my head they just kinda… fell in love? It’s a little hard to explain. When I imagined their interactions in my head, it started off friendly, then it got flirty, then before I knew it, I shipped them. It was at that point that I went to watch the freetime events and Island Mode, and realized that I was on to something. There was something here through a band. Through music.To me, that is what I love the most about Hinabuki. Music is a part of them. Not just any music, rock and metal music. It’s just so unique. Being in a band together is so important for them. They don’t even use “lovers” to describe their relationship, because they think “band members” is more accurate. Being in a band together and making music is love for them. Together. Making music together. It’s so beautiful to me. Given my passion for rock/metal music and my dream to be in a band and play music with people I love, I think you can understand why this ship would become my favorite.

More Posts from Cattokevo and Others

cattokevo

3 years ago

dr fans i come bearing. whatever this is

original image

80 notes View Post

cattokevo

1 year ago

ok well anyway *runs into traffic*

3K notes View Post

cattokevo

1 year ago

I made this for myself to use for an edit, and I thought I could submit it here. One very sleepy little servant!

95 notes View Post

cattokevo

2 years ago

people need to learn how to bait, it doesn't turn into a joke when you insult trans folks and women, and being homophobic.

i saw this essay while i was trying to find kmhn and i have so many thoughts..

if you want to read my thoughts i recommend reading them as you read the sections because thats how i wrote it

archiveofourown.org

Why It's Misogynistic To Ship Protag x Rival And Not Protag x Support | A Short Essay - Chapter 1 - Anonymous - Multifandom [Archiv

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

okay i'll go chapter by chapter (there are 5 chapters)

chapter 1: faqs

faq #1: the blatant homophobia towards the women youre trying to "protect" in this is very ironic to me. your point here is just plainly incorrect. how on earth does wlw ships further the ideology that women only want men for sex? and what is with the shaming women for not being virgins? there is nothing inherently wrong with having sex, having a sexual past, or anything of the sort. you sexualized these women. miu & sonia have done nothing wrong, and deserve the equal opportunity to be in a relationship and be loved.

faq #3: ...what? that makes no sense. the whole question doesnt make sense. im just not gunna adress it, but it is there.

faq #2: it *is* simply a matter of preference. there is nothing wrong w preferring makoto/byakuya, hajime/nagito, or kokichi/suichi. yes, those characters (kyoko, chiaki, and kaede) were written to be the protagonists respective love intrest. however, when has a fandom *not* shipped a character with someone who wasnt their love intrest? i can give several examples. it is not down to gender. people can see themselves represented through these relationships, they can hold the belief that those ships work better for the characters, or they can plain like the dynamic better. it does not matter.

faq #4: those crushes could be arguable. however, there was a slight hesitation from nagito when he said it, leading many people to believe that. i dont know enough about v3 to speak on that other part.

chapter 2: nagami

once again, it comes down to preference. you cannot controls someones preference. if they like naegami? fine! if they like naegiri? fine! it does not *matter*. at the end of the day, these two ships are perfectly resonable, and do no harm. therefore, both should equally be resepcted. the reason why naegami has more fics on ao3 because people prefer it more. simple as that.

also, this exact senario has happened before in another fandom. in the hp fandom, hinny (harry/ginny, his current wife) is less popular than drarry (draco/harry, his rival). and yk what? they have damn near the same dynamic as naegami. the simple thing is: people prefer the dynamic more. it is not misogynistic to prefer a dynamic. (i could go into a whole ass tangent on how similiar draco and byakuya are, but i digress)

chapter 3: komahina

I Saw This Essay While I Was Trying To Find Kmhn And I Have So Many Thoughts..

i could ramble day in and day out abt this ship, but i dont feel like retyping all of it so ima just ss my original ramble to my friends in discord.

(apologies for going off track for a little)

moving on, you mentioned nagito lied about having cancer. he didnt. he said he had stage 4 malignant lymphoma and front mental dementia. both of which were never implied to be lies.

"chiaki died for him and the rest of the class"

oh, do you mean in the real world, where she was brutality murdered so class 77 could become brainwashed, and how hajime was already too far gone at that point? or do you mean in the simulation, where they had zero chance of getting out without leaving chiaki behind because she was ai and apart of the system? or the time she had to be executed to save the rest of the group? thats not an act of romance, it was quite literally life or death. in 2 of those situations, it makes no logical sense for chiaki to live and have the rest of the group die. shes a team player, through and through.

chapter 4: saiouma

it comes down to prefrence. there is no misogyny here. it is just people preferring one ship over the other. nothing more, nothing less. this is getting embarrassing atp.

chapter 5: stats

chiriho: ...you missed their entire story arc!! not suprising you dont actually pay attention to stuff. ALSO!! the transmisogny!! and, to top it all off: youre a terf. whos fucking suprised. chiriho hid under the cover as a woman because they were afraid. thats it. they wanted to become stronger and braver. thats their arc. you red far too into it to come to the conclusions you came to. (using they/them on chiriho bcs i felt like it)

sonia: youre promoting purity culture. women do not need so save their virginity for anyone. nor does anyone. virginity is something given up when that person is ready. sonia was ready. so she gave it up. shouldnt that be a symbol of women empowerment? (note: i hate the concept of virginity as a whole, literally just have sex nobody gives a fuck.)

miu: "she doesnt deserve to be called a woman because of how preverted she acts." you wrote this whole essay as a callout for what you precieve as misogyny. however, throughout the entire damn thing you promoted misogynistic take after take. you basically just said in fujisaki's section that women shouldnt be pushed into a box, and yet,,, youre here telling women they cant be sexual beings? that they have to be pure, clean, and submit to men? miu didnt do anything wrong. she expressed herself in the way she saw fit, and YOURE mad that the way she did so didnt fit your standards? get the fuck out of here, weirdo.

final thoughts:

op has been continuously misogynistic, homophobic, and transphobic throughout this entire read. it is disgusting. now, this can be a blatant troll, but at the same time this is still perpetuating a very disgusting view on women and what they should be. as an afab, i'm disgusted. this is appaling. you disregard so many women writing this. queer women, women who didnt save themselves for marriage (because god forbid women do what they want to do.), or any woman that doesnt fit in your little box. you say youre against misogyny, but this is the most apparent example ive ever seen of a woman with internalized misogyny. if youre being serious? i truly hope you recieve the help you need, and do some interal work trying to combat this. writing 2,643 words worth of fictional parings you dont like when you can simply ignore it and walk outside is just sad. if youre a troll? fuck you.

(also, before you question that "writing 2,643..." line, i wouldve, but i happened to see it whilst on a 2 hour car ride to thanksgiving and i was bored as shit. sue me.)